Fall is just around the corner, which means awards season isn’t too far away either. The first film out of the gate that could be a major contender at the Academy Awards next year is Snowden. The biopic from director Oliver Stone tells the story of the former CIA employee Edward Snowen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who became a whistleblower when he leaked classified information about the NSA to the media that revealed the agency was spying on unknowing citizens of the United States. Now you can see it early thanks to a special Fathom Events engagement that includes a live Q&A with Oliver Stone and Edward Snowden himself.

Find out about the Snowden advanced screening after the jump. Read More »

Laura Poitras‘ Citizenfour earned near unanimous praise when it opened, and even won the Best Documentary Feature Award at this year’s Oscars. Beyond that, it’s also been deemed capital-I important thanks to its by-the-moment coverage of Edward Snowden’s massive NSA leak. It’s the kind of movie that has critics and pundits imploring “everyone” to watch it.

But if you haven’t gotten there quite yet, fear not. Citizenfour is now easier to watch than ever because it’s streaming for free, in full, online.

Update: Sorry folks, but this was a pirated rip, albeit one dressed up to look better than most streaming piracy.

Every year, the studios release approximately 8 million prestige dramas between November and December, and it looks like this year’s slate is already getting crowded. The latest to join the year-end fray is Oliver Stone‘s Snowden, a biopic of the NSA whistleblower.

In addition to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays the title character, Snowden also features an admirable supporting cast that now includes Timothy Olyphant, Rhys Ifans, and Joely Richardson. More on the Snowden release date and casting updates after the jump. Read More »

Oliver Stone is casting up his sure to be hot-topic Edward Snowden film. He’s already got Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the infamous whistleblower and Shailene Woodley as his girlfriend. Now, he’s added the three other major roles in the film.

Oscar-winner Melissa Leo will play Laura Poitras, the journalist/filmmaker who was part of Snowden’s revelations and directed the Best Documentary Oscar nominee, CitizenFour. Zachary Quinto will play Glenn Greenwald, the journalist Snowden chooses to help release the secrets and Oscar-nominee Tom Wilkinson will play Ewen MacAskill, a reporter at The Guardian who fact-checked and helped break these secrets. Read more about the Edward Snowden movie casting below. Read More »

As variousparties race to get out the first Edward Snowden biopic, the first Edward Snowden movie has already premiered. Laura Poitras‘ documentary Citizenfour debuted at the New York Film Festival over the weekend and while it won’t hit theaters for another couple of weeks, we have the first Citizenfour trailer to share with you in the meantime.

The title of the movie comes from the codename Snowden used to sign his emails to Poitras when he first contacted her. The filmmaker was already deep into work on a documentary about post-9/11 surveillance when she got his messages. Together with journalist Glenn Greenwald, she worked with Snowden to release information to the NSA’s covert surveillance programs in 2013. Watch the Citizenfour trailer, plus the Citizenfour NYFF Q&A panel, after the jump.

Oliver Stonedecided over the summer that he wants to make an Edward Snowden biopic, and now he may be closing in on a lead. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is reportedly closing in on the drama, though no deal is set in stone just yet. Hit the jump for more details on the possible Joseph Gordon-Levitt Edward Snowden casting.

It was inevitable that someone would make an Edward Snowden biopic, and it seems almost as inevitable that that someone should be Oliver Stone. The controversy-friendly filmmaker has just picked up the rights to The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man, written by journalist Luke Harding. Hit the jump for all the details on the story.

James Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are moving from fictional spy adventures to real ones. The duo are set to produce a new movie for Sony about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, based on Glenn Greenwald‘s upcoming tome No Place To Hide: Edward Snowden, The NSA, And The U.S. Surveillance State. Get all the details after the jump.